Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Lowers Stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. reduced its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 104,434 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,777 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $7,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,273,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,120,000 after acquiring an additional 30,962 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,076,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,557,000 after purchasing an additional 16,143 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,555,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,776,000 after purchasing an additional 65,223 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 44.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 943,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,628,000 after purchasing an additional 290,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,889,000 after purchasing an additional 376,920 shares during the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BFH. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Friday, March 27th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bread Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.92.

Bread Financial Stock Up 0.8%

BFH stock opened at $83.28 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.68, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.57 and a 12 month high of $83.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.16.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $1.67. The company had revenue of $975.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $954.74 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 17.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.49%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 19% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Bread Financial

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.